Display cursors that are driven by a mouse, a touch-entry device, a stylus device, etc., have become an essential feature of many computer programs. However, when a matrix crystal display, such as an LCD, is used, as in most portable computers, the cursor is found to be nearly invisible when in motion. Once lost from sight, visually relocating the cursor can be a slow process, especially if the background display is complex.
The problem of cursor invisibility results from a relatively slow response speed of the liquid crystal material. That is, before the pixels that represent the cursor become visible at a current cursor position, the cursor is erased from the current position and rewritten at a new position. As this process is repeated in rapid succession, due to movement of the cursor by the operator, the cursor never dwells at one location long enough to become visible to a user of the system.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide method and apparatus to improve the visibility of a cursor when used with a display having a response time that is approximately equal to or greater than a dwell time of a cursor at a given display position.